The Crown Estate employed Charles Hammond Limited, and Diana’s team worked on the meticulous restoration of the unique Owen Jones interior, originally completed in 1867 (Jones had based his design principles on Arab and Moorish works with influences taken from the Alhambra Palace in Andalusia). The restoration of Jones’s original colour schemes was achieved through scrapes, paint analysis and painstaking research with help from English Heritage and the Victoria and Albert Museum. First floor rooms, with 7 metre patterned ceilings, exotic wood inlays, enamelled fireplaces and Venetian chandeliers were transformed into a Boardroom, Meeting Room and Offices with specially commissioned furniture designed and handmade for these rooms. Silk damask for curtains and walling was woven by hand in Sudbury with matching handmade trimmings including cord and tassel tie-backs crafted in the City. Horsehair was woven for chair seats.
